Scourge of the Sea
by The Divine Writer
Summary: Looks like the Straw Hats get a new member, one who turns out to be the student of the most wanted man in the world, but that seems to not be all about him. How much will it change the rookie crew's destiny? Read to find out. VOTE/Chakra Naruto. Strong Naruto.. Naruto (x) (x)...
1. Chapter 01

**Authors Note:** I had a different story put up on this genre but for some reason, it was taken down. **Straw Hat Maelstrom** was the story's name and it featured Naruto joining Luffy and Zoro, and said blonde giving Coby a Mythical Zoan Devil Fruit. This story features a Naruto joining the crew but at a different point because I don't feel like writing any arcs before the Logue Town Episode.

* * *

 _(Logue Town...)_

* * *

"This is where we must part ways… for now."

Two figures stood on a roof of a tall building. One of them was taller than the other, and unlike the latter, the former was covered in a cloak, so it was difficult to make out what they were wearing or seemed to look like though, unlike the former, the latter wasn't wearing any such so it was easy to make out the spiky blonde hair, the cerulean blue eyes, the whisker-like tattoos on each cheek, and the fact that said figure was a male with a leanish muscular build. The blonde was garbed in a pair of orange pants, a mesh undershirt, a pair of dark blue sandals, and finally, an orange and black turtleneck jacket.

It was the former who spoke.

"Although I wish that you would've stayed a bit longer back in the base, you've grown strong enough to take care of yourself in this treacherous sea. It shows great maturity in not only your skills, but also your personality. You've come a long way from being that short little boy I first met 6 years ago… Naruto-kun."

"Hey I was 14 back then, and I **wasn't** short!"

"So, you say."

" _Sensei~_ "

The robed man just laughed at his student's antics because, despite the fact that the blonde may be older, stronger and more mature, time and time again he, Naruto, proved that at heart, he was still the same boy he knew, took in, and trained with all those years ago.

 _He admired that about his student._

Mode somber, the robed man turned around, walking to the opposite edge of the roof he stood on, as soon as the wind started picking up.

"You should probably get to the ship because things are about to get... **windy**."

He tilted his head back at Naruto, looking over his shoulder to glance at the blonde.

"Promise to write back to base from time to time?"

Naruto grinned.

"Believe it."

And with that, the robed man's form - not before he gave his student a side smile - disappeared with the wind, leaving Naruto standing there alone, well alone with the hawk that that just landed on his shoulder - the one he was petting with his hand.

"Dragon-sensei..."

The blonde looked at the clouds, his grin shifting to a smile.

"Don't worry, I'll make sure to look after your son; it's the least I can do after everything you've done for me, right, Kree-chan?"

" _SKREE_!"

And with that, he too disappeared with the wind, leaving the amount of people on the roof to zero.

* * *

 ** _[Disclaimer:_** _I do not own Naruto or One Piece…]_

 ** _[Chapter One_** _: The New Member…]_

* * *

Nami and Usopp ran as fast and hard as they could to their destination.

 _The Going Merry..._

They were trying to outrun the gathering of storm clouds above which signified the beginnings of a rather huge storm, which would be bad if they got caught in and were unable to move in, especially because including Zoro, Sanji, and Monkey D. Luffy, they were pirates headed towards the Grand Line, and there was a Marine stationed here on this Island to prevent this from happening as much as possible.

 _They couldn't risk their ship destroyed by the marines, or washed up by a storm..._

It was why the two ran as fast as they could to Merry, while Zoro and Sanji went to retrieve Luffy from the situation he'd managed to get himself into that involved a separate group of marines - led by their marine officer: Captain Smoker - and a separate group of Pirates led by their wacky captain: Buggy The Clown.

"Honestly," panted Usopp. He was carrying Sanji's prize for winning the cook off: the Blue Finned Elephant Tuna, which was a difficult task, especially while running as hard as he was. The sniper will make sure Sanji paid for this. "Couldn't we have gotten out of this place without Luffy getting **us** into trouble?"

"No time to worry about that idiot when our ship may be in danger." stated a frowning Nami, concern growing even more as she felt the rapid drop of air pressure, however the redhead's expression brightened the moment she saw a familiar sight. "I see Merry's sail's! Hurry, she's just a little bit further!"

And as they eventually arrived at the port Merry was parked, she and the Sniper paused at the sight before them.

"W-wha…"

Indeed, the marines and one Buggy's men, the Lion Tamer, had arrived before them, but that wasn't what surprised them; what surprised them was the sight of the two groups knocked out sprawled on the ground, right in front of their ship with Cannons, Rifles and firing equipment littered around them.

"Yip!"

As they navigated their way around the knocked-out bodies, the pair looked up to where that bark came from their gazing, and as they saw that it came from an yellow furred fox cub with just a single waving tail sitting in front of Merry, instantly every moment of worry was gone as Nami squealed.

"KAWAII!"

She snatched it up, dropping everything she had in her hand in order to pick up said fox smother it in her generous bosom; meanwhile, Usopp climbed the Merry, successfully managing to drop the very large tuna on the deck of the ship, before he turned to his nakama, and frowned.

"Oi Nami," He called out, "What are you still hugging that fox for? Aren't you the one that predicted how bad this storm is? Shouldn't we be planning an escape route before more marines to show up and seize the ship?!"

"Ah," Nami's eyes widened, pausing from her smothering of the fox as she remembered why she was in a hurry to get here on the first place. "You're right!" She stated, before she dropped the fox on the ground, picked up her items and threw them on the ship, before climbing on herself. "Thanks Usopp! I nearly myself for a moment; we can worry about the knocked-out marines later! Right now, we have to get ready so that by the time the others get here, we can make quick retreat!"

The fox watched from him spot as the two hustled, panting with his for tails swaying behind him even as the rain trickling from above, washed its fur.

"Yip, yip!"

With a mighty show of jumping strength, it took off into the air and landed on the railings of the Merry, before walking along it and jumping on Merry's head as Usopp was busy arguing with the cute redhead about her current decision.

"We can't set off without Luffy and the others! We have to wait!"

"Why? So that more marines can come and sink our ship? Luffy can stretch remember?! He can get the others on the ship when he gets here!"

"Yip!"

"Mmm?"

Usopp and Nami, pausing from their argument at the bark, looked up to see the familiar fox sitting on the head of Merry, Luffy's seat. This earned a sigh from Nami who walked up to the fox and held her palms out to which the fox landed on.

"Yip!" the fox barked. "Yip, yip!"

"Sorry little guy," Nami said, "but it seems that we can't take you to where we're going. Looks like this is where we'll have to part ways." Dropping its ears in sadness, the fox whimpers out a sad whine which brings tears to Nami's eyes in response, before she brings the fox up and hugs it to her bountiful chest, sobbing. "Aww! I just can't bear to leave such a cute little thing behind for all those nasty marines to have a piece of you! Usopp, let's keep it! He can even be our cute little mascot!"

Usopp was about to answer with a resounding no, but the sight of something caught his eye.

"Nami-swan!"

"Sanji!"

The redhead blinked at the sniper's cry, before looking to where she heard her name being called and saw the familiar face of Sanji staring back at her with a love struck look on his eyes while he ran from the marines that were chasing after him.

"Sanji-kun!" She cried in surprise. "But where are Luffy and Zoro?!"

Sanji's love struck look immediately disappeared as he stopped next to the ship.

"Those idiots can take care of themselve-"

"Sanji, behind you!"

"Yip!"

The fox leaped out of Nami's grip at Usopp's cry - ignoring her protest - just as the marines were about to attack Sanji, and before her, Usopp and Sanji's eyes, it disappeared in a flash of golden yellow, reappearing and disappearing all over the harbor just as the marines dropped one by one, before appearing and sitting down on the Merry's railings with a happy and oblivious look on its face as the last of the marines dropped to the ground.

"Yip, yip!"

Sanji hopped onto the deck of the ship, walking over to Usopp and Nami who were both looking at the fox taking it's place on Nami's hands with equal amounts of surprise on their faces. The blonde puffed out a small cloud of smoke as he stopped in front of the pair.

"That's some strange fox." He stated, voicing out Nami and Usopp's thoughts - well Usopp's more than Nami. "So, who's this?"

The redhead squealed in excitement, hugging the fox against her bosom.

"He's my little Kyu-chan! I don't care what Luffy says; I'm keeping him!"

The fact that it had a devil fruit ability - it wasn't difficult to deduce that it got its power from a devil fruit as they lived in a world that contained fruits that give people and animals abilities upon consumption - made the fox all the more appealing to her.

"Stupid Fox, stealing Nami-chan's attention like that."

And instead of feeling as curious as he was before he knew what the fox was, the cook huffed, turning away from it with a bout of jealousy while crossing his hands over his chest while he grumbled to himself quietly, which the cute redhead, meanwhile, ignored, as she continued to coo the fox she was snuggling. Usopp, meanwhile, walked up to Sanji with a concerned expression on his face as he was looking at the harbor.

"Zoro and Luffy sure are taking their time with this. Do you think they could've been caught?"

With his hands shoved into his pockets, Sanji walked up the stairs that led to the kitchen.

"Well Luffy ended up having some marine captain challenge him while that stupid swordsman was stopped by a cutie marine." He stated. "So, if anything, they might be rounding up their fight about now if not, then we'll have to sail without them."

Usopp frowned.

"But-"

Before the sniper could say a word in protest to his crewmates decision, however, the gust of a powerful green wind chose that moment to bellow a mighty roar, moving all any items not shackled to the ground with the massive strength it came with, including the Merry, where Sanji, Usopp and Nami were holding onto for their - and a certain fox's - lives.

"Arg, what's with this wind?! Where's it coming from?"

"Who cares? Just hold on for your lives!"

"Yip!"

And they would've been blown away from the ship had they not held onto it as they did and were continuing to do as random items - including humans - flew from different parts of the city and into the ocean below until eventually, it - the wind that is - died down.

* _Cue a trio of groan._

"Ah, Zoro look! Nami and the others are still here!"

Usopp blinked away his disoriented state at the familiar voice.

"Ah? Luff-"

"Gomu-Gomu no… Rocket!"

And suddenly, a pair of bodies smacked into his, knocking him over to the ground once more...

 _Monkey D. Luffy had arrived._

"Yosh, made it!"

Nami wore a relieved open-mouthed smile on her face as she saw the red vested straw hat wearing man suddenly being pushed onto the ground by the green haired man he stood on - Roronoa Zoro - a man who garbed in a white shirt, a pair of green pants, a pair of green boots, and finally, a large green sash which was wrapped around his waist.

"Get off, you freakn' rubber bastard."

"You guys, you're here!"

But then she stumbled a bit, before she could say anything, and she looked up to see Sanji coming down from probably pulling the sails of the Merry, and then she looked to her side to see Usopp setting up the anchor.

"Yo, Nami, what's up with the Fox?"

She glanced at Luffy, the one who spoke to her, and petting 'Kyū-chan's' maw, she replied, "He's my pet, and I'm keeping him. Got a problem with that Captain?"

At this time, Merry had sailed quite the distance from Logue Town, thanks to the storm, but with the way the waters were acting and with the visibility granted, it was difficult to steer, though that didn't mean that they were going to give up on their trip.

Luffy grinned. "Nope."

Smiling and nodding in appreciation, Nami placed her fist on her hips and was about to say something, however, before she could, she spotted a flash of light and her eyes suddenly widened as they gained a sheen of excitement.

"Look, that light!" She was pointing to it, what she called out, a light shining from a lighthouse pointing to somewhere, and nothing could curb the pure joy and excitement she felt, and she knew the entire crew were feeling the same right now because said light meant one thing, "The Grand Line is somewhere nearby! That's one of the Guideposts to the entrance!"

"Yip!"

"A-are you sure it's okay to sail in the middle of this kind of hurricane?" stuttered Usopp in worry. "Won't we drown?"

"Nope!" grinned Luffy in response to his sniper's question as he patted his Straw Hat, settling it on his head. He stepped towards the head of the Merry, looking at the direction the light pointed at with a determined expression. "The Grand Line is somewhere up ahead, which means that further up ahead, is One Piece… our dreams…"

"So," smiling, Nami turned to look at her captain. "What now?"

"Right now," said Sanji, walking up to the assembled group of people with a barrel of Sake in his hand, smiling, with earlier grievances forgotten as he placed the barrel in the middle of where the group gathered in a circle and stepped back, put his hands in his pockets, and then placed his right leg on a section of the top of the barrel he had brought. "We should say something to mark this special occasion; after all, this is only just the beginning of our greatest adventure."

"Yeah, let's do it!" walking up to the barrel, Luffy followed his cook's lead, placing his leg on the barrel's head. "To become the Pirate King!"

Sanji smirked. "To find all blue!"

"Yeah, I get it." smirked Zoro, following the two's lead, placing his leg on a section of the barrel's head. "To be the greatest swordsman!"

Deciding not to be left out in the spirit of things, Nami placed her leg on the barrel. "To draw a map of the world!"

And finally, Usopp, though he was slightly shaking, steeled his resolve and declared his dream: "To become a brave warrior of the sea!"

A moment of silence encased the entire crew, even the fox who was now Nami's 'pet' decided to watch the events before him in silent anticipation, even as the crew raised their legs in unison with the straw hat wearing male grinning more than his entire crew.

"Let's go: TO THE GRAND LINE!"

"Yeah!"

And with that, the barrel was smashed to pieces.

 _'Infiltration,'_

The fox smirked, eyes glinting in victory.

 _'Successful.'_

* * *

 _ **End.**_

* * *

 **Authors Note** : Well, there it is. Already a part member of the crew and things have changed. With Naruto around, the Ship didn't have a premature departure and thus was around when Luffy and Zoro arrived. Sanji didn't have to face the marines chasing him and got on board Merry faster. Nami was a bit distracted to give Usopp and Sanji orders to depart and so on. Things will change due to the fact that the blonde is around. What things you ask? Well stay tuned to find out.

* * *

 **Extra Notes:** In case you weren't able to make out, Naruto is from an AU Elemental Nations and arrived in the One Piece Universe at the age of 13. I'm sure many of you can guess what events led to his arrival to this world at that age. Oh, and in Naruto's universe, there could be a few extra things that happened right before or in fact _during_ said events - like for instance, maybe a drop of blood or a skin-cell from a certain Uchiha interacted with our favorite Jinchiruki's blood back when he was stabbed through the chest all the time - so who knows? Maybe you might see this version of Naruto get a power up that the Canon Naruto never received.

* * *

 **Shout Outs:** I'd like to give a huge shout out to **VT Creator** and **Lone Wolf-01** who helped me with the story's construction and beta respectively. Be sure to check out their profile for their awesome various stories.

* * *

 _Peace._


	2. Chapter 02

**SOTS**

* * *

 _East Blue..._

* * *

.

"Aww come on! Do a little trick for us!"

"Yeah, yeah! Like what you did back with the marines!"

 _Annoyance…_

That was what an eyebrow twitching, incredibly frustrated, Naruto Uzumaki felt as under the guise of his Fox Henge, annoying crew mates were treating him like their pet - telling him to do stupid tricks for food - and while he was tempted to just dismiss his jutsu and smack the shit out of them, he knew revealing himself now wasn't the smart thing to do, especially if he wanted to have the crew see him in a positive light, something he needed to happen to make his transition into the crew all the more smoother.

It's been two days since his infiltration, and while it was quite easy to discern the personality of everyone on the ship - Nami was the money loving thief and navigator, unhesitant of using her charms and devilishly good looks to getting her way; Usopp was the inventive liar and sniper who tended to try and shy away from most fights; Sanji was the perverted cook, complacent with serving women more than men; Zoro was the broody swordsman and weight lifting enthusiast and finally Luffy, well he was the hyperactive Captain overconfident in his ability to protect his friends and attain his dream of being Pirate King - it was very difficult for him, however, not to angrily snap at them each time they did something that annoyed him.

 _Dragon wouldn't be happy._

Patience was one of the many things Dragon-sensei pounded into him when he was still a young teenager learning about himself and his growing prowess. His impatience led him to a lot of failures and a lot of explosions when creating and trying out various new jutsu, or techniques; the man had decided to teach him a lesson he could still remember many years later because of the large impact said lesson had in his prowess' growth.

 _A little patience can take you a long way…_

"Will you two…"

Naruto mentally smirked, watching from his spot as Nami crept upon the two bothering him: Usopp and Luffy. The blonde took great pleasure as he watched the bumps grow from their head similar to how a bump would grow from his own head each time Sakura or Grandma Tsunade would get their hands on him for doing something stupid or saying something out of term.

"Shut up and bothering him!"

It was nice to _not_ be on the receiving end of _that_.

"Oi, guys…"

Naruto turned up to spot Zoro who was sitting on the crow's nest. The three-sword style user was looking down at them from his height with a pair of binoculars in his hands. He liked Zoro because the swordsman was one of the few who didn't always bother him.

"I see something strange nearby!"

"What?"

Naruto, turning with Nami, Usopp and Luffy saw where Zoro was pointing with his binoculars which were snatched by Luffy's Gomu-Gomu no Mi abilities. The disguised blonde didn't need such type of enhancements because from his spot he could perfectly see what the others were struggling to make out thanks to his awesome eyesight.

"It's a flock of birds, I can see them off to starboard!"

The disguised blonde's eyes narrowed because that wasn't _just_ what he saw.

' _What's a little girl doing stranded in a row boat this far out in sea?'_

He looked at Nami and barked…

"Yip, yip!"

"I hear when seabirds flock over the ocean…"

Sanji stepped out from the kitchen, leaning back on the mast as he looked at the direction Zoro pointed out.

The cook was the one who spoke.

"It's usually because there's a school of fish around."

"Yip!"

"Yeah Kyū-chan, we see the food too."

' _Ugh…'_

The disguised blonde mentally sighed in annoyance, as the redhead tenderly petted him.

"Luffy, catch us some lunch."

"Gotcha!"

And as he watched Luffy stretch his hand to pull in the item on the boat, the disguised man couldn't help but think that maybe infiltrating the crew as a fox, wasn't as clever as he'd thought in the long run, because while he got some major perks out of it, the downsides of being a cute little fox were much more frustrating than the upsides.

' _Patience is all well and good, but I'm starting to see why Tora-chan was as nasty as she was.'_

* * *

 _[_ _ **Disclaimer:**_ _I do not own Naruto or One Piece…]_

 _[_ _ **Chapter Two:**_ _Here there be Dragons…]_

* * *

A nose twitched.

' _What smells so good?! Wait…'_

It twitched again.

Food?

Why was there food when the last thing she remembered was…

Apis' eyes snapped open with a gasp.

' _Marines!'_

She suddenly snapped up from her rather comfortable bed, with every intention of fleeing her holdings, unfortunately…

 _*SMACK!*_

She knocked into someone with her small head.

"OUCH!"

"You're quite lively when you're up."

Turning her throbbing head to the source of the voice, Apis saw herself looking at a number of strangers sitting in what seemed to be a dining area. They were all looking at her with creepy - at least to her - smiles on their faces.

"Yip!"

Blinking at the small bark, she looked down by her side only to see the blue eyes of a baby fox looking up at her. She was overwhelmed by its cuteness; a great factor in what neutralized the fear she was supposed to be feeling. it was why she snatched it up from the ground and tightly hugged it to her chest, squealing.

"Kawai!"

Squeezing it with all she got, somehow made all her worries and concern disappear. Feeling the fur of the cute little fox brush against her cheek filled her with a sense of comfort that she rarely ever had, hence her ever more intense squeezing of the cute little fox.

"Isn't he?

Apis looked up from her hugging of the fox to the one who spoke, the redheaded female and instantly, she gained a defensive look… shying the fox away from them.

"I thought the same thing when I first laid my eyes on him. It's why I adopted him in the first place."

"I bet you're hungry…"

This one came from the blonde-haired man next to the stove.

"I'm cooking up some soup now."

Apis' eyes narrowed.

"Were you in a shipwreck?" She glanced at the orange haired female who spoke. "You were really in trouble out there. What's your name?"

"When you ask someone's name, you're supposed to say your own first." Apis stated defensively in retort. "Who are you guys?"

"Ok." The grin on the orange haired female gained a suspicious hint to it. "My name is Nami. The guy making the soup is Sanji. The guy with the mean face and a waistband is Zoro-

"Shut up."

-and, the guy lying unconscious is Usopp." Nami continued, ignoring Zoro's comment. She was motioning to all the people she called out vocally. "The fox in your hand is Kyū."

And Apis paused, taking note of all the people the redhead introduced, before glancing at the fox in her hands.

"Kyū?"

"Yip!"

Her eyes narrowed at the fox. Literally, she was supposed to understand that, able to hear the human-English translation of that bark because it was her specialty but for some reason, she couldn't quite get a grasp on what the little fox tried to say.

She wondered why.

"I'm Luffy; The Captain of this Pirate Ship."

Wait…

Apis suddenly froze as her entire world came to a stop.

"We're heading to the grand line."

' _ **PIRATES**_ _?!'_

"..."

"..."

"..."

In confusion, Luffy scratched his head.

"What's wrong? Why isn't she moving?"

Zoro opened up a single eye, looking at the frozen girl.

"What are we going to do about her?"

"Luffy?"

Said Captain shrugged.

"I'll think about it tomorrow."

' _WHY ME?!'_

* * *

 _Cut scene: Apis - Middle of the night._

* * *

She knew it was too good to be true Apis thought, as was huddled in a corner covered in the bed sheets she woke up under. First, she was taken from her homes by marines who wanted her to take them where the elixir of youth was held, torturing her day by day when she refused to tell them anything. Then after she managed to escape, she was captured by pirates who would no doubt want the same thing for her so much that they probably were willing to poison her with food for info.

* Groan *

When was the last time she had any?

 _Food…_

Apis held her groaning stomach in pain.

' _Ugh…'_

She was in the ship's storage area currently, far away from where those pirates could reach. It also gave her the freedom to move about as she wanted to, that was why with a small wince, she got up from her spot and quietly made the journey to the kitchen, however, she cursed her luck when she heard the sounds of munching coming from her destination.

She froze, even more so as she felt a hand rest on her shoulder.

"You know…"

Gulping, she slowly turned around and looked up to see the face of a smiling blonde looking up at her.

"It's not nice to sneak up on people like that."

And the next thing she knew, was darkness as she fell into the realm of unconsciousness.

The next time she woke up, she looked around found herself back where she was hiding from the pirates except she wasn't alone because there, sitting on one of the many crates, was the smiling face of the blonde she caught in the kitchen whose hands were out in a wave.

"Yo."

That was when she let out a loud...

"KYAAAAAAAAAA!"

…scream.

"Jeez, calm down I'm not going to hurt you," Said the spiky haired blonde, wincing, as he was cleaning his hypersensitive ears that were still ringing from the volume of the vocal attack. "You're lucky I placed silencing seals around the room so that no one could've been woken up from that."

Apis, meanwhile, was visibly frightened, shaking at the sight of this unfamiliar man. She was scared of the pirates, sure, but this man wasn't part of those that Nami introduced to her earlier so of course she was scared of him more than the pirates.

She gulped.

"W-who… who're you?"

"Well..."

The man brought the crate he was sitting on closer to her, earning a flinch in response which caused him to sigh. Maybe this wasn't the right way to approach her and he should've stayed disguised the man thought, but it was too late to do anything about that now… not that the little girl could pick up on that, maybe.

"Believe it or not, I'm 'Kyū-chan'; you weren't this afraid of me back when I was a cute little fox."

The man made a hand sign and transformed into the white fox that she was more familiar with.

"If you feel more comfortable, we can talk like this "

No, she did not feel more comfortable, in fact it made the situation with her even worse, and the fact that she somehow knew that this was the same fox she was hugging moments earlier? Well that was what struck a chord of even fear.

"Try not to be afraid…"

Apis flinched.

The fox sighed, meanwhile, before hopping off the crate, walking behind it to pick up something and as it came around, the sandy haired blonde girl noticed that it was a silver tray with some snacks that made her stomach grumble in greedy hunger. Cautiously, she watched as the fox carefully dropped it before with a mighty heave, it jumped, landing on the crate he was sitting on before with a hop.

She watched as the fox returned to his sitting position.

"The others don't know that I'm really not a fox, so let's keep it that way until I decide to reveal my true self to them."

She eyed the food suspiciously, before eyeing the 'fox', not knowing what to think any more, but the grumble in her stomach told her what she wanted now; that was why she grabbed one of the two delicious looking rice balls on the plate and ate it, slowly savoring the taste, which earned a knowing smirk from the fox.

"Yeah, Sanji's cooking has a way to grow on you, doesn't it?"

The girl nodded happily, greedily munching on her snack until she was done and reached for the other rice ball. Before she put it in her mouth however, she paused while her eyes narrowed in no doubt, what was suspicion as she looked at the fox in front of her.

"Who are you?" She asked. "And why're you being so nice to me?"

"Consider me being nice just being a part of who I am and as for exactly _who_ I am?"

The fox shrugged.

"Well for now, let's keep that a secret, but I _can_ tell you this: The straw hats aren't bad people. They can be sorta goofy and annoying sometimes, but they are alright so give them a chance, and I'm sure you'll find out that they can be quite nice to hang around with, Apis-chan."

And with that, the fox disappeared in a streak of yellow, leaving a surprised Apis alone in her thoughts.

' _Just…'_

She munched on the rice ball she put in her mouth.

' _Who was he?'_

And the better question, could she trust his words?

 _Should she?_

The girl frowned.

Well it's either that, and hope that he isn't wrong, or do nothing and wait for those pirates to come and do whatever they wanted to do to her come morning, something she couldn't allow. Looks like she was going to have to go with plan A then; but still…

 _* munch_ *

The fox-man was right; this Sanji knew how to make his food.

* * *

 _Cut scene: The Next Day_

* * *

Angrily, Sanji's eyebrow twitched.

Gathered around him were the rest of the crew sitting in the dining hall but he wasn't interested in all of them as he was interested in the tied-up man in front of him, the tied-up Straw Hat wearing Captain, Monkey D. Luffy.

"I'll ask you again,"

Sanji snapped his leg at Luffy's neck, sending the tied-up captain hurtling towards the wall behind him. He walked up to the downed Captain and grabbed his cheek, pulling him up to the level of his angrily glaring eyes.

"Was it you that cleaned up _**my**_ refrigerator?"

"N-no!"

And once more, Luffy was knocked to the ground.

Clapping his hands together, Sanji turned to Nami with an expression of mock sadness.

"A-ah Nami-chan," He started, "It seems that my giant mouse trap has no effect on keeping away this idiot from the fridge; can I have please some pocket money to install a lock instead? Because at this rate, we'll all starve to death before we can reach the Grand Line."

"Fine, fine. I'll see what I can do." Nami replied, waving her hand in casual dismissal while her other hand petted the fox sitting on her lap. She wore a bored look on her face as she watched the cook deal with the idiot captain, speaking of which... "I just realized that we have a stow away on board," she stated. "Luffy, until we decide on what to do with her, we can't go to the Grand Line. What're we going to do?"

"We could offer to drop her off in her home island?" Usopp offered. He was sitting next to Nami with a little bandage on his chin from the bruise he got yesterday. "I mean, sure, there's that option, but we don't even know where _that_ is, and it's not like she's going to tell _us_ anything anytime soon."

"Well, why don't we ask her?" Zoro suggested. As like with Nami, he too wore a bored expression on his face, as he sat on the same space he sat on the day before. "Seeing as she's been listening to our conversation for a while right over there."

"Eep!"

And at that noise, the crew turned in unison, to the source of the noise and saw that it came from said girl in question, who - like Zoro stated - had indeed been peeking in on their conversation. The door opening revealed her figure fully, and while they could see that she was still startled from being called out, the more observant ones of the crew noted that the little girl wasn't as scared as she was when she realized that she was sharing the same space as a bunch of pirates.

"Ah," Nami smiled. "There you are; I was beginning to think that after what happened yesterday, you wouldn't show up at all." The redhead walked up to the girl, bending down to offer her hand to the downed female - of course she was intent on helping the little girl up. "Here, let me help you with that."

"U-um…" The little girl hesitated, but then she had discreetly looked at the fox in the room who tilted his head in response to her stare - which she took as a positive sign - before accepting the hand offered. "Thank you."

"Oh, and don't worry about yesterday." Nami added as Luffy got up from the ground and took his place on the table. "We're pirates so it's natural for you to have that kind of reaction; but I can tell you now, we're nothing like those stereotypical pirates you're afraid of. What's your name?"

"A-Apis, my name is Apis."

"Well Apis, I hope we can be good friends."

The little girl smiled. She was glad that she listened to what the fox-man had said and decided to trust these pirates because it seemed that they weren't as bad as she initially made them out to be in the first place. She could live with that.

"So, Apis-chan…" She turned to see the one that spoke, Sanji? Yeah, that seemed right; Sanji was the name of the man with the curly eyebrows. "I hate to ask but what manner of circumstances led to you being shipwrecked somewhere very close to the Grand Line?"

Apis frowned.

"Well…"

She wanted to fully trust them, tell them why she was being chased in the first place, but what are the chances that once they heard her reasons, they won't be after the same things her pursuers were after?

"I-I…"

Luckily, she was saved from answering when Usopp came bursting into the room with a look of panic all over his face. He'd left the room sometime after his question was 'answered' to check out their sailing progress and now, he was back, with distressing news it seemed… let's hear what he has to say.

"Everyone," He started "Terrible news! We're being attacked by marines, and I'm not talking about two or three here!"

 _Uh-oh…_

Everyone rushed outside to the deck to see if what Usopp said was the truth and much to their shock and worry, he was indeed correct. Not one, two, or three marine battle ships were closing in on them but a total of seven.

 _Crap…_

"W-why are they so many of them out here?"

"I bet they've come for my head!"

"But even so, why have that many?"

"A-ah!"

Meanwhile, Apis' eye widened and she started to shake in fear, as she saw the number on one of the ships sails, before dropping to the ground and shuffling back as far away from the approaching ships as possible.

This was immediately picked up from the crew.

"Apis?"

"Those ships, they're from the eight division! Those are the marines I ran away from!"

.

Onboard the main marine vessel that was accompanied by six others, a marine officer stood out from the rest, and he was walking out of his quarters and onto the deck of his ship, ignoring the many salutes sent his way.

"Major! Ship sighted at 1 o'clock! Medium Caravel class! There's a Skull marking atop the main mast!"

"Pirates, eh?"

The major tilted his head, sighing in annoyance.

"Barging into Admiral Nelson's jurisdiction… they must be insane." He looked at his assembled men, no doubt waiting for his choice to proceed or otherwise. Good men. "They must be a bunch of weaklings, ignore them!"

"Actually, that mark doesn't belong to any weakling."

The major turned to the source of the voice who spoke, a lanky man with an oddly shaped purple hair.

"I believe that the vessel itself belongs to Straw Hat Luffy, the man with a 30, 000, 000 berri bounty on his head." The purple haired man stated. "Even with all these ships, we have yet to have any success in our search. It's quite possible that someone else picked up the girl; and what's more, the fact that they're such a well-known pirate crew means that it will be unwise to ignore them." He concluded. "Seize the ship!"

"It's her, there she is!"

The major and the purple haired man looked up at the look out, following his announcement.

"I can see a small girl on the deck!"

"What?"

"So, it was just as I said, major."

Said man growled, earning a smirk in return.

"Did I perhaps injure your pride? If due to your blundering, that girl - the key to the elixir of life, the Ryuukotsu - were to be lost in any way or form, well… I'm sure you don't need me to tell you how upset Admiral Nelson would be…"

Angrily, the major grit his teeth.

"READY CANNONS! We're seizing that pirate ship!"

"Yes sir!"

.

"Ahh! They've started shooting!"

Going Merry shook from the aftershock of the fired cannons missing them. It was a near miss but it was still damn terrifying to have that many ships targeting you all at once with no room to escape what so ever.

"Attention Pirate vessel, stop your ship immediately! You've had your warning shot; the next round will _not_ miss!"

Usopp was terrified, logically, but he stood his ground.

"Like hell we're gonna stop."

"What're we going gonna do Luffy?"

Zoro walked up to his Captain, standing next to the straw hat wearing male.

"If you're gonna fight them, do it now."

"Yeah, let's fight!"

"You idiot!"

Nami slapped Luffy at the back of his head.

"Even if we do end up fighting, they're too many of them for us to take on! We can't do this without the ship getting damaged in the process!"

"Maybe _you_ can't,"

At once the crew paused, wondering where that male voice came up from, however Kyū hopped on the railing of the merry, earning a surprised look from Nami as she saw the fox looking back at all of them with a smirk.

"But _I_ can."

"Kyū?"

A cloud of smoke erupted from all around the fox and when it died down, it cleared out, it wasn't the smirking face of their four-footed companion they were looking at but instead, the smirking face of a spiky haired blonde with a trio of whiskers around his cheek, standing on a very _big_ green feathered hawk.

"Actually, it's Naruto."

The blonde turned around, facing the marines.

"And don't worry about the ship; I've got this."

And with that, he took off, leaving a very surprised crew behind, leaving them all with a very similar train of thought.

' _What the hell… just happened?'_

* * *

 _ **End.**_

* * *

 **Authors Note:** Chapter Two is complete, and posted and Naruto has revealed himself to the crew except, it's not when they're confronting Laboon. Now before I get some shit in this chapter, let me make it clear; I know that the arc I'm currently writing is a filler arc but this arc needs to happen for Naruto to earn himself a place on the crew before confronting the great whale. Why did I use this route instead of letting Naruto join the crew as his human form? Well, I needed him to do this so that certain things can happen that might change the course of the story eventually, but not by too much. The hawk isn't a summon of Naruto, instead, it's a friend/companion of his he nursed back to health when said hawk appeared as a chick to him. As to why the hawk is big? Well, Devil Fruit, obviously.

* * *

 **Other Notes:** The Naruto now residing in this universe was from an AU Narutoverse, just to note; he still has the same backstory but there are things prior to that which might've occurred differently in said universe than they did in the Cannon universe.

* * *

 **Shout Out:** I'd like to give a huge thanks to **VT Creator** for helping me with this chapter as he did with the last. I suggest that you go to his profile and check out his stories as they're really good. He's the one who gave me the idea for the title of the chapter; I swear his doesn't get the attention he deserves.


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